India recorded a cruise tourism footfall of 470,000 in the 2023-24 financial year – its highest ever. Domestic tourists accounted for nearly 80% of this, as international cruise tourism in India has yet to revive to pre-Covid levels.
05.04.2024 - 15:35 / skift.com / Sébastien Bazin / Bulbul Dhawan
French hospitality company Accor signed a record 11 hotels in India last year and opened six properties, it said in a statement released on Thursday.
Signing include luxury hotel Fairmont Agra and premium hotels Pullman Amritsar and Grand Mercure Jaipur Kukas. It also signed Novotel Bengaluru Airport Varun and ibis Styles Bengaluru Airport Varun.
The company opened 1,000 keys across Novotel Mumbai International Airport, Novotel Jaipur Convention Centre, Novotel Jodhpur ITI Centre, Grand Mercure Agra, ibis Mumbai Thane, and ibis Styles Goa Vagator.
The hotel company currently operates 62 hotels in India across its brands: Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, Pullman, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Mercure, ibis, and ibis Styles.
Accor is set to open nine hotels this year, including Raffles Jaipur, Grand Mercure Goa Candolim, and Novotel Goa Panjim.
Sébastien Bazin, chairman and CEO of Accor, has said that India is a key player in the company’s global vision. India is “a place of opportunity and growth,” he said.
In an interview with Skift, Bazin had said that the company will benefit from the expansion of the Indian middle class. This demographic is the target group for “Ibis, Mercure, and many of the hotels in our core.”
Accor operates one of the most prominent wedding hotels in India – Fairmont Jaipur. The success of this hotel has driven the company to expand the brand in India, with Fairmont properties set to come up in Udaipur, Mumbai, Shimla Fagu, and Agra.
Over the next three to five years, Accor is planning to add 30 operating hotels totaling 5,500 keys to its portfolio.
India recorded a cruise tourism footfall of 470,000 in the 2023-24 financial year – its highest ever. Domestic tourists accounted for nearly 80% of this, as international cruise tourism in India has yet to revive to pre-Covid levels.
More than 81% of the Indian GenZs – aged between 18 and 25 years – start planning their first international trips as soon as they secure a job or receive their first paycheck, online travel agency Skyscanner has revealed in a new report. Indians are historically known to start saving as soon as they are employed and have been conservative with their travel spends. These findings highlight how the youth, especially the growing middle class, is changing the tourism landscape in the country.
Indian travelers have an increased interest in weekend getaways and spiritual tourism, according to online travel agency MakeMyTrip’s first-ever travel trends report. Searches for destinations with or around religious spots increased by 97% in the last two years, the platform stated in the report, which was released on Monday.
India is becoming a convenient hub for travel between Southeast Asia and the Middle East, IndiGo Chairman V Sumantran said during his address at a college in Chennai. He also cited the example of several airlines carrying passengers from places such as Bangkok to Jeddah or Dubai by connecting through Indian cities.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand on Thursday hosted a group of more than 8,000 incentive visitors from India. The delegation is part of the authority’s goal of receiving at least 1.7 million Indian visitors this year, it said in a statement.
Hyatt Hotels definitely has its eyes on India and the focus specifically is on domestic Indian leisure travelers. “The leisure travel market is primarily driven by Indians traveling within India and discovering the country,” said CEO Mark Hoplamazian during his recent visit to the country.
The Indian civil aviation ministry has advised domestic airlines to assess risks before flying on international routes as tensions in the Middle East are growing. The civil aviation regulatory body is working with the airlines and the ministry of external affairs to navigate the situation, civil aviation secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam has said.
The travel and tourism industry in India is projected to generate revenue of nearly $24 billion in 2024, according to industry promotions body India Brand Equity Foundation. At an estimated annual growth rate of 9.6% between 2024 and 2028, the industry is also expected to reach a market volume of $34.25 billion by 2028.
The domestic air passenger traffic in India during the 2023-24 financial year is estimated to stand at 154 million, according to credit rating agency ICRA. This figure surpasses the pre-Covid figure of 142 million domestic air passengers recorded in the 2019-20 financial year. The agency further stated that domestic air passenger traffic witnessed a 13% increase from last year.
“Ninety percent of the success of hotel companies is linked to two things – demography and emerging middle class,” Accor chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin said at the recent hospitality conference, HICSA 2024. This is especially true for India, he said, which has accounted for 25% of the emerging middle class in the past 10 years.
Corporate travel in India is booming – spending surged nearly 25% in 2023. And online travel companies are ramping up their efforts to profit from it.
Online travel agency MakeMyTrip has announced a new exclusive charter service between Mumbai and Bhutan. This service is a part of its holiday packages and the exclusive charter will depart once a week.